As a member of a lodge committee whose object was to recommend lodge members for promotion I was taken aback to find that certain members of the lodge came and quietly lobbied for a higher rank than they might perhaps have expected. I have been thinking about this since receiving two letters which are published in the letters page of this issue. One suggests that a lack of promotion is the cause of Brethren leaving the Craft; the other is suggesting that too much is spent on regalia, that a more modest approach to distinctive garments might better serve the cause of masonic charity.
    Everyone likes to be respected and to have that respect made, as it were, tangible by means of a distinctive item to be worn - a particular apron, sash, collarette or jewel. These have long been offered to those worthy of distinction in Freemasonry. In civic life there are similar devices: in England we have the medals and jewels of recognition such as a Knighthood or an OBE, in France there are the striped sashes of the Legion d’Honneur and, of course, the military in all lands give out medals for valour or service.
    There can be nothing wrong with such recognition. But such a recognition does not make you a better person. Yet that is the aim of Freemasonry as symbolised by the journey from the rough ashlar to the perfectly smoothed and squared stone, one which is ready to take its place in helping shoulder the load of the structure. Such recognition can even stand in the way of this improvement as a human being. Especially if it should cause you to think that you were in some way superior, wiser, set apart for some other special purpose.
    Our ritual does address this danger: at each Installation Meeting the members of the lodge are addressed by the Master or a Past Master who stresses that ‘as some must of necessity rule and teach, so others must of course learn, submit, and obey. Humility in each is an essential qualification.’ Wise words: ‘Humility in each.’ For if one takes promotion as a chance to serve, rather than to dominate, then that promotion is well given and the marks of recognition well deserved. And we have all seen the other side; there is always someone, somewhere, who has mistaken promotion for importance. Perhaps they are too grand to listen to the Address to the Brethren any more.
    It is easy to forget that the rank to which we are promoted is, in essence, a position of service. We may feel a glow of pride at being promoted to Past Provincial Grand Warden; this being a greater ‘rank’ than some, a lesser rank than others. But it is still, by proxy, the position of Warden in a lodge; a position which requires work to be done in the rituals, which requires a humble service. Because only a few can actively serve in Grand Lodge or Provincial or Metropolitan Grand Lodge, the rank is honorary and its practical basis can be missed - and often is by those whose self-importance barely covers their desperate need to be honoured.
    Such men have failed Freemasonry; but Freemasonry has also failed them. They did not enter the Craft as free men; rather, they entered in thrall to the desire for grandeur and rank and somehow, on their journey, never had the chance to lay this burden down. In fact, they are bringing back into the lodge those injustices and inequalities which so often reign in the world beyond.
    Remember, the Master who rules over every lodge charges the Brethren ‘to practice out of the Lodge those duties they have been taught in it.’ And by so doing, our ritual explains, ‘to prove to the world the happy and beneficial effects of our Ancient Institution.’
    And, in the twenty-first century, men who serve justice, equality and upright conduct are still needed - some would say, more than ever.


It is with great regret that I must inform readers that, since our last issue appeared, Lord Burnham, one of the founders of Freemasonry Today, has died. He had a lifetime of experience in the media, especially The Daily Telegraph where he became Deputy Managing director; he had a lifetime of experience in Freemasonry, ending as Provincial Grand Master for Buckinghamshire.


Soon the annual Freemasonry Today trip to Egypt departs. This time the trip will be slightly different; not only will we be visiting the Pyramids and many great Temples about the Nile but we are travelling to the Monastery of St. Catherine and Mount Sinai and some of us, to the magical rock-carved city of Petra in Jordan. HPB Travel and Quest Travel of Giza have devised and organised this trip which promises to be very special. I will report on it, hopefully in the next issue.

Michael Baigent MA – Editor